An honest and snark-free summary of how Putin governs:
This isn't based on one source. It's based on talking to Russians, reading russian news, watching documentaries about Russia and reading news about Russia.
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- Putin restricts access of the press to him.
You only get access to him on his conditions. He will only answer your questions if he feels like it. This has lead to self-censorship among russian media because they all want Putin to talk to them.
If he gets a critical question anyways, he will change topics by bombarding the interviewer with memorized statistics and with whataboutism how there are more important things we all should worry about.
- A strictly vertical government. Officials are responsible to their superiors and ultimately Putin, not to the voters.
It usually goes down like this:
Step 1: Voters complain publicly about a problem.
Step 2: Putin swoops in and blames the low-level guy directly in charge.
Step 3: Putin plays big man and creates a spectacle for the media where he takes on incompetent and corrupt officials.
Step 4: The problem gets some kind of short-term solution, which gets played up big in the media and Putin gets hailed as a hero for solving the problem.
Step 5: As soon as the public moves on and the media stops reporting, the government stops caring about the problem. The problem got kind-sorta solved in a half-assed way and Putin got his heroic treatment, and that's what really counts.
E.g. there was steel-mill town that was dying. The steel-mill was outdated and partially defunct, jobs were leaving, people were leaving. Putin swooped in and made a big show out of creating a government-fund that would support such towns with big investments. A big show was made for the cameras, where an old steel-mill was demolished with mighty machinery. Then the cameras left... and the project stopped. No new buildings were ever built by the government. But at least Putin had his propaganda of being a problem-solver.
E.g. a few years ago, Putin made a big show about taking care of illegal landfills where Moscow's trash is dumped in rural regions. He closed down ONE illegal landfill. And as soon as the cameras were gone, the trucks returned. Recently, people have started protesting again about these very same landfills.
- Cultivate an image of being calm and competent.
People elect Putin because he's simply the only electable candidate. I know one Russian who is strongly anti-Putin and he said even he would vote for Putin, because all the alternatives are even worse: All other candidates are either a) normal politicians but without enough public profile, b) straight-up lunatics, c) fame-hungry celebrities.
(That's why nobody is voting for Navalny: Putin has successfully painted him as a hysterical troublemaker.)
- Crack down on dissent in the name of national security and patriotism.
* E.g. the russian government is regularly proposing to regulate and monitor the internet in the name of fighting terrorism and protecting children from harmful content.
* E.g. all russian organizations that receive foreign funding are dubbed as "foreign agents", which is a soviet-era term for "spy". How many organizations are affected by this? Almost all organizations dealing with society, human rights and the environment, because all these organizations were founded by foreigners after the collapse of the Soviet-Union to support russian society.
(Fun Fact: The russian Attorney-General has the power to unilaterally shut down any such "foreign agent" organization on a whim. No hearing, no trial, no recourse.)
* E.g. when the organization of the mothers of soldiers demanded to know from the russian government if any russian soldiers had died fighting in Eastern Ukraine, Putin swiftly declared such information a state-secret.
* E.g. Putin is working hard to keep his private life private. When a newspaper dared to write an article about his marriage, Putin shut down the newspaper within a week.
- Infiltrate and co-opt any and all political groups. Don't allow any independent organizations.
E.g. if there's an organization for the protection of the environment, have the government found and run an organization for the protection of the environment. If anybody wants to get engaged for the betterment of Russia in any field, he will find a government-controlled group ready to welcome him.
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How Russia Wages Non-Linear Warfare and Reflexive Control
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210549623
